There is shown in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,337,541, issued July 6th, 1983 to BROWN, (FIG. 16 being the most relevant) a typical conventional arrangement for collecting pollen. This arrangement comprises meshes of varying fineness, disposed in spaced horizontal planes one above the other.
The lowermost or first mesh is the finest, the space between adjacent wires being small enough to prevent granules of pollen from falling through, yet large enough to let air circulate over the pollen to dry it.
The next mesh up has a slightly coarser pitch. The space now between adjacent wires allows pollen granules to fall through-(onto the finer mesh below) but is small enough to keep bees from passing through the mesh.
The upper mesh or, more usually, two meshes have the coarsest pitch and comprise a pollen stripper. The space between adjacent wires now is large enough to allow the bees to crawl through, yet tight enough to knock granules of pollen from their legs when they do so. The granules drop down through the second mesh and come to rest on the first mesh. The two pollen stripping meshes have been found to knock pollen off the bees legs more efficiently than just one.
It is arranged that the first mesh comprises the bottom of pollen basket, or drawer, which the beekeeper, can pull open when he wants to remove the collected pollen.
Other examples of such pollen traps are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,367,563 issued Jan. 11, 1983, FERGUSON; 4,351,074 issued Sept. 28, 1982, ROBSON; 4,322,861 issued Apr. 6, 1982, HEALY; and 3,995,338 issued Dec. 7, 1976, KAUFFELD.
All of these prior teachings have failed to recognize the critical importance of adequate ventilation. If air circulation is reduced, then honey production falls, and in addition the pollen granules do not dry so quickly. A badly ventilated hive will provide reduced pollination of crops, including fruit trees etc.
Another factor not given attention in the prior art is the need to keep rainwater out of the pollen basket. The construction has been such that windblown rain dripped into the pollen basket.
Another factor still is that the bees should not be restricted in their access into the hive. Once through the entrance, they should be given ample room to move. Placing a pollen trap in a beehive is quite a disruption from normal, and the restrictions within the pollen trap must be minimized.
It is recognized as important that the pollen trap should be efficient; that is, that as much as possible of the pollen be stripped from the bees. It is true that the hive needs a stock of pollen to produce new bees in the summer, and to ensure survival through the winter. Beekeepers in the past have therefore felt that one should not take too much pollen from the hive, because the bees would then need to dip into the hive's stocks. However, in the past it has not been recognized that the bees can quickly make up a depleted stock of pollen during the season, without any detriment at all to the smooth functioning of the hive. Hence, an efficient pollen trap can be more economical in use for the following reason; such a trap stays on one hive for, say, six weeks, and is then removed. Since the pollen season is around twelve weeks long (June, July and August) it will be noted that only one trap is needed to collect all the pollen that can be taken from two hives, if neither is to be dangerously de-stocked of pollen. It has not been recognized, again, that such efficiency of pollen collection stems from the design of the trap, which should interfere as little as possible with the ventilation of the hive and the movement of the bees.
As has been mentioned above, it has not been recognized just how important good ventilation and unrestricted access are. This fact is evidenced by the design of the prior art pollen traps, where the size of the area covered by the meshes i.e., the area exposed for ventilation, is small in relation to the overall area of the hive. In previous designs, the path which the bees traverse in passing through the pollen trap has been circuitous and restricted. The known pollen traps have all had restricted access and ventilation to such an extent that the efficient operation of the hive must inevitably have sufferred.
The invention is aimed at making it possible for the area of the pollen basket to be the very largest it can be, within the dimensions of the hive. The invention is also aimed at allowing the bees to move through the trap in as unrestrained a manner as possible, not only to avoid disturbing the bees, but also to ensure that the pollen is distributed evenly in the basket. If the bees were to be congested by the layout of the trap, then the pollen would collect in a heap at one point in the basket, and would not be evenly distributed. The even distribution over the largest area ensures the best drying effect, and the least interference with hive ventilation, and also it means that the pollen basket need be emptied only once in several days, rather than every day.